


Knife's Edge

by SadaVeniren



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Divorce, Knife Play, M/M, Parenting while actively in the BDSM community, Risk Aware Consensual Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25404211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadaVeniren/pseuds/SadaVeniren
Summary: He really hoped the cut would stop bleeding.“Dad? What are you doing in our bathroom?”Louis whipped around to see Jess standing in the hallway. She wasn’t rubbing her eyes like she’d just woken up. She was staring at him wide-eyed, and he saw the moment she registered the bleeding cut on his chest because she covered her mouth. He immediately began to panic.aka Sometimes you have to parent, even when you're bleeding from your chest because you were an idiot and hadn't practiced safe kink techniques
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 22
Kudos: 230
Collections: Prompt 3.4: Sin





	Knife's Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Was this inspired by real life? Of course not, my child isn’t fourteen lol

“Motherfucking shit,” Louis swore as the water ran red as he cleaned the cut on his chest. It ran the length of his pec, and while it wasn’t deep it had flayed the skin enough that both he and Harry’s eyes had widened in shock before the panic set in.

He hoped he didn’t need stitches.

As it was Harry had immediately rushed out of their bedroom and into the en-suite looking for their first aid kit, only to find it woefully empty. A search in Jess and Michael’s bathroom turned up a similar situation and so - still panicked - Harry had said he was running to the store, _any store_ to get gauze and tape and antiseptic to treat the wound.

“Probably should get some fucking butterfly bandaids too,” Louis muttered as he looked at the cut, watching the blood pool up immediately. He sighed.

He supposed the plus side was that it hadn’t been Harry who had the cut. And that they hadn’t actually started the scene yet. He’d just gotten the knife sharpened and so he’d given himself a quick little test cut - as you do. He’d waited until they were in the bedroom to do so because well, Harry liked to see Louis test on himself first. It gave him some sort of thrill, his eyes darkening over in lust and need, wanting to be next.

On a normal night - you know, one where he hadn’t _flayed himself_ \- Harry would have made greedy hands, begging to be next. A couple of cuts into his back, maybe Louis’ initials, just enough to flirt with scarring… it would have been a good night.

Louis looked into the red sink and sighed. He grabbed a couple of tissues and pressed them against the cut. The good side was that it didn’t hurt. Kinda stung like a paper cut, but no pain. He’d need to clean the sink up after. Or maybe Harry would do it.

Louis didn’t know. He really hoped the cut would stop bleeding.

“Dad? What are you doing in our bathroom?”

Louis whipped around to see Jess standing in the hallway. She wasn’t rubbing her eyes like she’d just woken up. She was staring at him wide-eyed, and he saw the moment she registered the bleeding cut on his chest because she covered her mouth. He immediately began to panic.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s just a little cut.” Her eyes darted up to his eyes and then back to his chest where, yup, it was still bleeding. Louis continued to panic. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep.”

“I heard mom leave, and I... did he _do that to you_?” Her voice broke a bit in horror as Louis’ mind spun in place. His silence did not seem to help Jess. “Why did mom leave? Did. Are you guys fighting?”

“No!”

“Are you lying?”

“No!”

“That’s what Kennedy’s parents said!”

 _Right_. Her friend Kennedy’s parents who broke up last month. Louis closed his eyes. He remembered now, all of Jess’ fourteen year old anxiety. First there was Aunt Lottie breaking up with Uncle Tommy after Christmas of last year. And then Uncle Niall divorced Aunt Hailee at the end of January. And then Jess’ friend Nicole’s parents, and now Kennedy, and fuck know who else but Harry had told him that there were rumors of the Smiths sleeping in separate rooms and … yeah. He got it.

He had a crying fourteen year old in front of him, a flayed open chest, and he was just grateful Michael was still asleep.

“Honey, no. There was an accident and we didn’t have anything for the cut so your mom ran to the store for me. He’ll be right back.” Jess was still crying in front and he sighed. “Let me just. Wash my hands and we’ll go into the kitchen and get something to drink.” 

Louis grabbed some more tissue and dabbed his bleeding chest. The sink was still stained red and he just _couldn’t_ with it right now. He wrapped one arm around his daughter while the other hand held tissue to his chest as he brought them into the kitchen.

Tea was decently easy to boil and he also scrounged around for some biscuits to eat in the hopes it would calm Jess down.

“Alright. We have tea. We have biscuits. Let’s talk,” Louis said. “You’re worried that mum and I are fighting?”

Jess sniffed. “Everyone else seems to be. And not even just now. But always. No one’s parents seem to be together anymore.”

Louis tried to flip through who else he knew from her friends’ circle but he was coming up blank. “Well. You know for some people it’s better to be apart than together.”

“I _know_ , dad. But it still… everyone seems to be doing it.” She paused and chewed her bottom lip as she wiped her eyes. “Even Michael asked me about it.”

“He did?” _God fucking dammit._

“I think. I think that was more because he was reading that book, you know?”

Louis did not know. Michael read many books but to Louis’ knowledge none of them were titled _Divorce and You_ or the like. “What book?”

“The one with the kid and the shoes. Maniac Magee. The character’s aunt and uncle won’t get a divorce because it’s a sin or something and so Michael asked me if that was true and if that’s why other people don’t get divorces and it was just- we’re scared I guess.”

“Well first of all. The book is wrong. Staying together when you aren’t happy is a bigger issue. Forcing yourself to be happy when you aren’t is a problem. But your mum and I are happy.”

“Even though he cuts you in a fit of rage?”

Louis looked down at his chest and sighed. Anything he was going to say was interrupted by Harry returning through the side door, flushed, out of breath, and panicked. His eyes somehow widened more when he saw the two of them sitting at the kitchen table. He looked from Jess to Louis to Louis holding tissue over his cut and then raised the bag.

“I got snacks?” He sighed and put the bag down before he began rifling through it to get out gauze and antiseptic and Louis was relieved to see butterfly bandages. “What are you doing up?”

Louis looked at Jess and leaned back as Harry started to clean up his cut. He saw the way she was clamming up and he sighed. “She heard you leave and thought we got into a fight.”

Harry’s eyes widened as he turned away from Louis to look at their daughter. “What? No! I left because we needed bandages.”

“I explained that,” Louis said. “I was talking to her about how some people get divorced and it’s okay.”

“And also that you aren’t like… abusing dad.”

Harry gave Louis a look. “I’m not.” 

Jess nodded again and took another sip of her tea. “Would you guys tell us if you ever like, fell out of love? Or stopped being a good fit?”

Louis was surprised when neither of them immediately rushed to answer her question. Instead they looked at each other, and he felt that moment of parenting connection he and Harry often shared where no words needed to be spoken. He could see that Harry agreed with him, that neither of them wanted to put the burden of their own happiness on their children, so no, they wouldn’t tell their children if they ever fell out of love. Not until they were positive there was no way to come back from it.

“If anything happens,” Harry said, not looking away from Louis. “We will of course let you know, but please know that none of that is going to happen, because me and your father love each other very much.”

Jess seemed satisfied with that, and after she was done with her tea - and Louis was patched up - she gave them both a hug, before going back to her room.

“We dodged a bullet there,” Louis said after he was sure Jess was far, far away.

“We did have to explain that we weren’t getting a divorce though.”

Louis closed his eyes. “I would rather explain divorce to our fourteen year old than the fact carving my initials into your thigh gives me a raging erection.”

Harry smacked his bicep. “Don’t say that outloud.”

Louis smacked his bicep back. “I deserve to considering she caught me in a compromising position!”

“Why were you in their bathroom?!”

“I was double checking they didn’t have _something_ to clean me up with. You know. Since I was _bleeding_ everywhere!”

Harry dropped his head into his hands. “We’re horrible parents.”

“We’re excellent parents,” Louis said. “How many people do you think could have navigated that conversation?”

“None.”

“Exactly. Now come on. Let’s go to bed.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this please leave a kudos, comment, or [reblog the tumblr post](https://sadaveniren.tumblr.com/post/624177020148039680/knifes-edge-by-sadaveniren-15k-he-really-hoped)


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